Mark

I cut open the grille area intending to put in a separate piece from behind. Note the downward slant of the side window opening; I might cheat and recut that to make it more level. Right now that makes the chop look heavy. I cut the windshield and rear glass so they can be fitted separately after finish paint.

The original vinyl tires in the Indy car kits were one-piece and had tread detail but no sidewall lettering. The two-piece tires have nice sidewall detail but no tread. Hopefully those are molded in black plastic, so the seam can be filled.

I built one with the Stylizing parts back in the day, and have another one in the works. Whatever you do, do NOT use both the chopped top and the front/rear extensions on the same car. The chop stretches the roof and makes the car look bricklike. I did, and do plan to finish it, but also might like to try one car with the chop (and milder custom parts) and one with the extension pieces but no chop. Not a lot of radical custom 1:1 '57s, but that's because the car looked good as-is.

Any specifics?

I don't think the built model was intended to be switched back and forth after it was finished. The idea was more likely to provide both versions. Since Montgomery only tested the car and never actually raced it, this kit probably didn't sell nearly as well as the kits of his Willys and the two Mustangs. As for kits coming out different from the 1:1 car, that seems to be more frequent than you'd expect. The XR-6 kit got ahead of the real one. George Barris' shop deviated from the blueprint and made the nose piece and fenders different; those were later changed. The Deora got ahead too, the detail around the grille and headlamps differs between kit and 1:1. The kit also has side glass that the real truck has never had, and some interior details differ too.

I built mine, so I can't provide pictures of an unbuilt one.

AMT made a mistake in converting the '66 body to '67 trim: they eliminated a crease on the lower body, between the front and rear wheel openings. It can be put back, the builder would need to take a template off of a '66 body to put it in the right place on the '67.

Diamond in the Rough version included some pre-damaged parts: broken glass, different fender unit with one separate running board and front fender, pre-bent bumpers. The undamaged parts were not included.

Or until you are involved in an accident. "Accident" doesn't automatically mean you hitting someone else...it also includes someone else hitting you. Insurance will typically be high on those cars "because parts cost so much". Yet, when you are involved in an accident with one, the insurance company will be quick to total it because of the low resale value. They will then auction the totalled car and get good money for it, because of the value of the still usable parts.

MPC called that kit the V-Rod, but it had a Corvair engine. I believe the original catalog info showed it with a VW engine, somewhere along the way it got changed.

Chassis and engine got reused in the '68-'69 Torinos. The body likely got scrapped once those parts were removed. There was one reissue of the '67, during '67, in the flat box that AMT used for a few kits at that time.

I can't see any state with inspections letting that thing anywhere near a road. I'm thinking that, for whatever reason, that thing only moves short distances back and forth on private property, like at a marina or campground. Why it wasn't just built as a trailer and moved around with another vehicle would be the next mystery.

Even the Revell engines aren't a drop-in fit. These parts packs were designed to work together to an extent, but some finessing will be necessary to get everything to look just right.

I thought Round 2 did do a short run of the kits in this box, as an Auto World store exclusive.

I'd like to watch someone change a tire on it. Or do the brakes...one wheel at a time, who has a lift that could handle that thing?

I never paid attention to that particular kit, didn't realize the boxes differed like that. For many years, you could walk into any K-Mart store in the country, stroll over to the model kit aisle, and count on seeing that kit on the shelf. That, the AMT '57 Chevy, Old Pro Nova, Red Alert Chevelle, MPC '67 Corvette, Monogram '29 Ford roadster pickup and at least one version of their '55 Chevy...

Same parts, different decals. There was an MPC Ramchargers Challenger funny car kit in 1971, but it had the earlier style Logghe chassis which was not correct for a Ramchargers car. The body in that kit still had stock trim also.

The highest retail price I ever saw on a "regular" AMT kit box was $2.50 (-250 suffix). This would have been in the mid-Seventies. Retail jumped to $2.70 and then $3.00 in pretty short order after that.

And, Pontiac got away with the '64 GTO because it was a "package" and not a stand-alone model. '65 brought the 400 cube limit, so it was made a separate model that year.

I don't think the 336 was ever actually reduced to 326. It was just GM policy at the time to not advertise engines larger than 330 cubic inches in their intermediate cars. The 336 bore/stroke setup had been used earlier in GMC pickups when they used Pontiac V8 engines. Later the policy was nothing over 400 cubic inches. But they let Buick slide with their 401, because the next-generation engine was on the way. They also let Olds off the hook with the Hurst/Olds because the 455 engines were supposedly installed as part of the conversion. It wasn't known outside the company for many years that the 455s were actually put in on the assembly line.

Those wheels look like the optional ones from the first issue '70 'Cuda, painted.

What do the wheels look like? I'm thinking Revell (1/25 scale) '70 Hemi 'Cuda.

I haven't tried it on in a while, but as I recall the SMP '61 top wasn't even a particularly good fit on the SMP '61.

Some of the MPC Impala kits had those mag wheels, but the backs with separate brake rotors point to the Corvette kits. I'm pretty sure they had those wheels from '68 through '72.

Was the plastic still "soft" when you primed it? If so, it might be too far gone to save. The combination of materials and paint removers used may have been excessive.